Aaron Hernandez Lawyers Ask Judge To Toss Out Evidence

JENNY WILSON, jenwilson@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Aaron Hernandez appeared in Fall River Superior Court Wednesday for the second time this week, as his lawyers asked the judge on one of his murder cases to toss out evidence that was obtained during a search of the former New England Patriot's home last summer.

Police first searched Hernandez's house at 22 Ronald C. Meyer Drive in North Attleboro last summer the day after Odin Lloyd's body was found in a nearby park. Hernandez is charged with murder in Lloyd's June 2013 shooting death.

Defense attorneys are challenging whether the government had authority to seize a number of phones and iPads in the house, rather than just one phone specifically referenced in a search warrant application dated June 18, 2013. Prosecutors say they seized the other devices for the data stored on them.

In the search warrant affidavit, Massachusetts state trooper Michael Cherven asked the court to authorize the seizure of "any electronic device with GPS capability." The hearing Wednesday centered around whether the affidavit was attached to the warrant when it was signed and executed. Chevren said the affidavit was "in a folder together with the application and the search warrant."

Judge E. Susan Garsh did not issue a ruling on the motion to suppress. The case is expected to go to trial this fall. Hernandez, a Bristol native, is charged with murder and five illegal weapons counts. He also is charged with two counts of murder in a 2012 double slaying in Boston.